Hispanic Heritage · Venezuela

Caracas y el Centro

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Pabellón criollo

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Pabellón criollo brings shredded beef, black beans, white rice, and sweet fried plantain onto one plate. This Caracas chapter explores the contrast between savory sauce, earthy beans, plain grains, and caramelized fruit.

La Gente

Treat each component as part of the same meal. Start the beans and beef first, then prepare rice and plantain as serving approaches. Keep the components distinct on the plate so a spoonful can combine them in different proportions.

Sabor

The center cooks in the Venezuelan key: cumin, garlic, onion, ají dulce, the small sweet pepper that is in everything, and onoto for color. A little sweetness is normal here, papelón in the beans, the plantain fried until it caramelizes. Heat is optional and lives in the bottle of ají on the table.

Spice DNA · Sweet medium · Herb medium · Smoke low · Heat low · Acid low

Seasonings to explore

Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the beans, in the beef, in the sofrito. Adds a savory garlic base.
Cumin, ground. Venezuelan cooking without cumin is a different country's cooking.
Sazón with Coriander and Annatto. The closest jar to onoto, the annatto seed that colors the beef.
Onion Powder. With the fresh onion in the sofrito.
Black Pepper, ground. In the beef.
Bay leaves, whole. One in the beef as it boils, one in the beans.
Oregano, whole. A pinch in the beef.

From your market: black beans, flank steak (falda), ripe plantains with black skin, ají dulce if you can find it (a red bell pepper stands in), papelón or brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, which Venezuelans call salsa inglesa and put in the beef without apology. Badia does not sell the ají dulce, and a caraqueña would tell you the beef is not the same without it. She would still make it.

Cocina

Pabellón criollo

Rice, black beans, shredded beef, sweet plantain. Four pots, one plate, the flag on a Tuesday.

Serves 6

Carne mechada

2 lb flank steak
1 white onion, halved, plus 1 more chopped
1 Badia Bay Leaf, whole
3 tbsp oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped, or 4 ají dulce, minced
2 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, or 5 garlic cloves minced
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp Badia Cumin, ground
½ tsp Badia Sazón with Coriander and Annatto
½ tsp Badia Black Pepper, ground
¼ tsp Badia Oregano, whole
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt

Caraotas negras

1 lb dried black beans, soaked overnight
2 tbsp oil
½ onion, minced
½ red bell pepper, minced, or 3 ají dulce
1 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil
1 tsp Badia Cumin, ground
1 Badia Bay Leaf, whole
1 tbsp papelón or brown sugar
Salt

Arroz blanco

2 cups long-grain rice, 3 cups water, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp salt

Tajadas

3 very ripe plantains, skin black, sliced on the diagonal
Oil for frying

Boil the beef. Cover the flank with water, add the halved onion and bay leaf, and simmer 1½ hours until a fork shreds it. Save 2 cups of the broth. Cool the meat and pull it into threads with your hands.
Start the beans. Drain the soaked beans, cover with fresh water by two inches, add the bay leaf, and simmer 1 to 1½ hours until tender.
The bean sofrito. In a pan, warm the oil, cook the onion and pepper until soft, add the garlic and cumin for a minute. Stir into the beans with the papelón and salt. Simmer 20 minutes more, uncovered, until the broth thickens and turns dark. Some cooks mash a few beans against the pot. Most cooks do.
The beef sofrito. Warm the oil over medium. Cook the chopped onion and pepper until soft. Add the garlic, then the tomatoes, cumin, sazón, pepper, and oregano. Cook down 10 minutes. Add the shredded beef, the Worcestershire, and a cup of the reserved broth. Simmer 20 minutes, adding broth if it dries, until the meat is dark, moist, and stained orange. Salt.
The rice. Boil water, oil, and salt. Add rice, stir once, boil uncovered until the water drops below the surface, cover, lowest heat, 20 minutes. Fluff.
The tajadas. Fry the plantain slices in ½ inch of oil over medium until deep gold and caramelized at the edges, 2 to 3 minutes a side. Drain.
Plate it con baranda. Rice, beans, beef in three parts of the plate. Tajadas around the edge like a railing. A caballo if it is that kind of day: a fried egg on top. A slice of queso blanco if there is any in the house. There is always some in the house.

Pueblos del Centro

Caracas · Petare · Chacao · Baruta · El Hatillo · Los Teques · La Guaira · Macuto · Maracay · Valencia · Puerto Cabello · Barquisimeto · El Tocuyo · Carora · Cagua · San Felipe · Guarenas